Turkey: PKK is still a threat in the mountains

Days after a government-proposed partial amnesty for members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) took effect, the Turkish military indicated that the number of surrendering terrorists based in the mountains in Turkey and Iraq were still few and more time should pass for a proper assessment of the success of the move.

More than 900 PKK members have applied to benefit from the amnesty but only 14 of them were those based in mountain camps, a top military official said.

"We are not interested in applications from those already in jail. What interests us are the terrorists based in the mountains. We have 14 applications from them," Yasar Buyukanit, the Deputy Chief of Staff, told journalists in a Sunday gathering.

Buyukanit said the number of jailed applicants was 906.

The president approved last week the amnesty law, which the government called "wining back to society law", in an attempt to encourage thousands of armed militants based in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey to lay down arms and surrender.

The PKK, later renamed as KADEK, is estimated to have some 5,000 armed terrorists in mountains in northern Iraq and the government has predicted that half of these militants might return home to benefit from the partial amnesty, which grants pardons or reduced prison terms for militants.

Buyukanit said that only one of the 14 militants had come from outside the Turkish territory to surrender. Five of them have been released, Buyukanit also said.

The deputy chief of staff, who is due to hand over his post in the coming days, said he could not confirm media reports that there were terrorist groups gathering in rural areas of the southeastern province of Sirnak in preparation for collective surrender.

"We are very closely following developments in connection with the law. But for the time being, we do not have information sufficient for an assessment," Buyukanit said and added that it would be necessary to wait for at least a month to be able to do so.

The PKK/KADEK leadership has denounced the partial amnesty and pledged not to disarm unless a general amnesty is issued.

"We have been hearing such threats from the PKK/KADEK for 15-20 years. The Turkish Armed Forces is always ready to defeat such threats," Buyukanit said.

Turkey deploys a few thousand troops in northern Iraq in order to hunt the PKK/KADEK militants based in the region and this presence has occasionally led to tension with the United States.

In early July, 11 Turkish soldiers were detained by American forces on charges of plotting against the Kurdish governor of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Buyukanit said Turkish presence in northern Iraq was due to the PKK/KADEK presence and indicated that there would be no reason for the Turkish troops to stay when the PKK/KADEK is eliminated.